Preparing for Baby: 10 Easy Freezer Friendly Meals

Hello! I hope you guys aren’t sick of me as I have one more guest post for you before Brooke is back from her adventures in Disney World. For this post, I decided to share about something Brooke has certainly been through, but is not currently experiencing…pregnancy! As I mentioned in my earlier post, I am expecting my first child (a daughter) April 4th! While I could not be more thrilled to welcome our first child, there are SO many unknowns that are extremely difficult to prepare for and it seems everywhere I turn different women have different takes on what the transition to motherhood entails.

Being that I am a super type-A, plan all things at all times kind of person, there are certain things that I worry about for myself in making this transition, many of which I hope that I will be able to simply let go of and finally realize that life would be more fun if I could just learn to let.some.things.go. Because I am serious about making a conscience effort to just be and take in every situation as it comes, I am trying to use these last couple of months to complete nagging tasks and do things that will help me feel more comfortable just relaxing once the baby is here. One piece of that is meal planning. While I LOVE cooking and baking, I would be lying if I said that some days/weeks I just do not want to meal plan, and the last thing I want to do when I get home from work is cook. Assuming that I will have many a night when I feel this way post-partum, I made it my goal to find and prepare 10 freezer meals to have on hand for Chris and I post-baby.

From the get-go I decided to try to do two of these freezer meals a week so it wouldn’t be a huge expense all in one week or too overwhelming. I started by making two freezer meals on a Sunday and quickly realized that even this seemed to be somewhat of a drag as there were other things I wanted to be doing with my time off. So, I quickly came to the conclusion that it would be a million times easier to make these meals as a part of my weekly dinner plans and simply double the recipe and make one and freeze one. This plan worked WAY better, and really didn’t seem to create any extra work for me. Below is a photo of the night I made Chicken Fried Rice:

I used freezer-friendly dishes in order to be able to use my regular glass dishes in the next two months, and just used a sharpie to write what the meal is and instructions for thawing/preparing it when we are ready. I am hoping that having done this will really help us to be able to focus on what is important (our daughter!) and not result in going out for fast food on nights when we are too tired to cook. Because I haven’t eaten all of these meals yet due to my faulty system in the beginning, I cannot testify to how they will all turn out, but felt that they looked great as they went into the freezer and should be a nice variety of tasty meals to eat once our little girl is here!

Some of these recipes I found searching online, and others are recipes that my sister-in-law, Abbie, shared with me that she and her sisters like to make and freeze. Below you will find either 1) a link to the recipe and preparation instructions or 2) the recipe and preparation instructions written out. It is my hope that this post will serve as some inspiration for mama’s to be looking for freezer-friendly meals as well as veteran mama’s looking to stock up their freezer with simple means to thaw and eat in a pinch. For pretty much each of these meals it would be my recommendation to thaw 24 hours in advance in the fridge and continue with the listed preparation instructions, bearing in mind that it may likely be necessary to increase the total bake time.

Enjoy!

BBQ Meatballs

3 lbs. hamburger
2 eggs
3 cups quick oatmeal
1 cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon chili powder
1 (13 oz.) can evaporated milk
2 cups ketchup
2 tablespoons liquid smoke
1 ½ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ cup onion, chopped

Directions:

Mix hamburger, eggs, oatmeal, onion, chili powder and evaporated milk together. Shape meat mixture into balls. Place in a single layer in a 9×13 pan. Mix ketchup, brown sugar, liquid smoke, garlic, and chopped onion. Pour over meatballs. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. (Makes 15 large or 50-60 small meatballs).

Beef Enchiladas

1 lb. ground beef
1 (16 oz.) container sour cream
1 pkg. enchilada sauce seasoning
1 large can red enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
tortilla shells

Directions:

Brown hamburger and drain. Mix in sour cream and enchilada seasoning. Pour a thin layer or red enchilada sauce in a 9×13 pan. Spoon mixture on to tortilla shells. Place seam side down in pan. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over tortillas. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.

3-Cheese Chicken Bake:

8 oz. lasagna noodles
½ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
3 tablespoons butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/3 cup milk
¼ teaspoon basil
1 ½ cup cottage cheese
6 oz. sliced mushrooms
3 cups diced cooked chicken
2 cups shredded American cheese
½ cup Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Cook noodles according to directions (I omitted this and purchased oven-ready noodles). Drain & rinse. Cook onion and green peppers in butter. Stir in soup, milk, drained mushrooms and basil to make sauce. Place half of pasta in 9×13 baking dish. Cover with ½ sauce, cottage cheese, chicken and cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Cavatini:

1 lb. hamburger, browned
add salt, pepper, onion, and green pepper to taste
3 cups spiral noodles
1 can tomato soup
1 can Italian style diced tomatoes
pepperoni, as desired
¼ cup brown sugar
1 small container cottage cheese
Mozzarella cheese
1 can tomato sauce

Directions:

Brown & drain hamburger. Add tomato soup, cottage cheese, diced tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Cut pepperoni into small pieces. Mix in brown sugar. Cook pasta. Mix all together and place in a 9×13 baking dish. Top wit Mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot.

Creamy Chicken and Veggie Casserole